Another emotion-packed episode, parts of which I loved and other parts which I did not love at all. Seems this is becoming a pattern for me with his drama — it’s like these two extremes are growing ever farther apart, so that the heart-wrenching parts of each episode are enough to bring a tear to my eye, but the frustrating parts are enough to make me swear at my screen.

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EPISODE 13 RECAP

Ki-hoon pounds on the front gate, screaming Eun-jo’s name over and over, ready to confess everything to her. She has been tasting batches of makgulli, which has the natural side effect of getting her drunk, and is therefore asleep inside as he shouts to her. Slowly, she wakes up and hears the yelling, staggers drunkenly to her feet, and makes her way outside.

But Jung-woo has gotten there first, and helps Ki-hoon inside. He tells Eun-jo to go on, as Ki-hoon is dead drunk.

(And yeeaaargh, I was so frustrated with this complication that I wanted to hit Dear Ms. Scriptwriter upside the head for yet another fakeout. We finally get one character determined to talk, and finally get them both in the same general vicinity for said discussion, and finally get both drunk and therefore a little less hostile to hearing the other person out. And what happens? Thwarted by Leg #4 in the Love Rectangle. How typical.)

In their room, Jung-woo glares down at Ki-hoon. From outside, Eun-jo calls to him, bearing a tea tray with two cups. She sways a little, still tipsy, and says that it’s for both guys to drink. But Jung-woo’s no dummy and knows who it’s really for, and asks why she likes Ki-hoon.

Eun-jo scoffs, reminding him not to “fool around,” but it’s hardly an effective denial. Jung-woo grabs her (by the wrist, of course) and drags her outside, where he walks her back and forth to sober her up. Or should I say jerks her back and forth aggressively. I don’t know why he thinks making a drunk person stagger around dizzily is going to CURE her drunkenness, but he’s pissed off and it’s more like an act of frustration than helpfulness.

The reason for his anger becomes clear when he flashes back to just a few moments before, when he had opened the gate. Ki-hoon had lurched forward — Jung-woo had held him up — and mumbled his confession, addressing him as though he were Eun-jo.

Ki-hoon spilled everything about his intended takeover as part of Hong Ju, and how he was going to give the company back to Dae-sung. However, “he died because of me” after hearing Ki-hoon on the phone with his brother.

Now Jung-woo is burdened with this information as he sees Eun-jo, but not in a position to reveal it to her. He knows how they feel about each other but feels Ki-hoon is unworthy of her, and asks if she likes him knowing “what kind of person he is,” the implication being that she doesn’t know what he’s really like. Eun-jo warns him to watch his words — who is he to say that?

Eun-jo: “It hurts when I don’t see him, and when I do. It hurts whether he’s here, or whether he’s not. Hurts whether he smiles at me, or smiles at someone else. Hurts whether he calls my name, or doesn’t. As long as I don’t disappear into the earth, I think I’ll continue to feel hurt, Jung-woo, but still, being here is better. Being able to see him and hate him is better than him not being here.”

She’d given this speech in a detached, faraway voice, and now she comes back to the present. Adding insult to injury, she calls Jung-woo kiddo, which must ruin the moment for him even as she says warmly, “You’ve grown up a lot, our Jung-woo.” With that, she makes her way unsteadily back to the house.

In the morning, Ki-hoon wakes on the floor. I like to think it’s Jung-woo’s little retaliation to have let him stay there all night rather than putting him to bed. When Ki-hoon wakes, Jung-woo demands to talk and asks why Ki-hoon isn’t asking him to keep his words a secret from Eun-jo. Ki-hoon answers that it’s because “I have to say them.”

At that, Jung-woo punches Ki-hoon. How could he dare tell Eun-jo this? “If you tell her, my noona won’t be able to breathe. You’re going to come clean so you can relieve your mind? Then what about noona — what happens to her?” He yells, “Are you going to kill Eun-jo?!”

Well, that’s a little dramatic, but then again, this whole show is really laying it on thick with the life-and-death stakes. While it makes for some poetic analogies, secrets don’t REALLY kill people, at least not via guilt complexes and mental anguish. Either that or these characters have the mental toughness of baby birds and must be constantly coddled to prevent them from breaking with every secret. Case in point:

Ki-hoon warns Jung-woo to keep his trap shut, because he will tell Eun-jo himself. Jung-woo tells him, “She says that it hurts to both see you and to not see you, but she’d rather see you. You sinned, didn’t you? You want to receive punishment, right? Then let your punishment be not being able to say it for the rest of your life, and not being forgiven.”

Those words do have an effect on Ki-hoon, but ultimately he sticks to his original idea and races for the house, looking for Eun-jo. Hyo-sun runs into him at the gate and hears that he’s looking for her sister, and for a moment you wonder if she’s going to lie to thwart their meeting. She ends up telling him that Eun-jo is at the lab, and he drives recklessly to get to the school as fast a she can. Alas, when he gets there, he finds the lab empty. You know, Ki-hoon, you could just… call her.

It turns out that Hyo-sun had known Eun-jo wasn’t at the lab, but she isn’t going to play out the manipulative sister role, so she calls Eun-jo to tell her that she has something very important to tell her. Can she come home right away?

Next, Ki-hoon calls Eun-jo to say urgently that he needs to talk to her right away, or he may never get the chance again. Where is she?

Ki-hoon then calls his father to explain his reasons for working with him in the first place. Perhaps he started out by wanting to get revenge against his brother and stepmother, but there’s also a part of him that wanted to do a good job for his family’s company.

However, now he is willing — nay, determined — to give it all up. His stocks, his claim as heir, even his identity as Hong’s son — he’s going to give it all up. Furthermore, if his father or Ki-jung ever ties to mess with Dae-sung Co. again, he’ll treat him as strangers and won’t hesitate to go public with all their illegal manueverings.

Ki-hoon: “I’m going to see the girl who says she would rather see me even if it hurts her. I’ll atone for my sins, and ask her if I can stay, if I can keep seeing her. If she agrees, I’ll do it.”

He arrives at the house, seeing Eun-jo’s car already parked in front. And just as he’s about to hurry inside, a third car pulls up, stopping him. Seriously, the people in this drama have the Worst Timing Ever in the history of Ever.

Hyo-sun’s reason for calling Eun-jo turns out not to be an emergency, but a mental fear that she wants to address right away. She tells her sister that Ki-hoon was looking for her with some urgency, but in a way that wasn’t work-related. She hated feeling left out of the loop, but that made her feel ashamed. But even more than that, she was dying to understand the reason that Ki-hoon was looking for her so earnestly.

Eun-jo sighs, understanding that Hyo-sun hates herself for feeling left out, but can’t help being hurt by it. Her answer is a sort of compromise, and she suggests that Hyo-sun can come with her from now on. If it makes her that uneasy to feel out of the loop, they can stick together.

It’s really sweet to see Eun-jo make this concession — she could have told Hyo-sun that this isn’t her fault and that she isn’t making her feel left out on purpose, which is true enough. But instead, she reaches out a hand to address the underlying source of the complaint.

It’s generous of Eun-jo (especially considering her personality) to allow Hyo-sun to join her in the lab, where the latter hardly knows anything and might legitimately be more of a hindrance than a help. But she lets Hyo-sun in, and in return Hyo-sun does her eager best to be as helpful as she can.

The reason for Ki-hoon’s confession being interrupted this time turns out to be middle brother Ki-tae, who is so smitten with Hyo-sun that he’s here to beg Ki-hoon to introduce him to her. This is hilarious, because now Ki-tae is all eager to please, not at all the shifty punk he was when we first met him.

This encounter takes a swift nosedive when Ki-tae gets a call that their father has collapsed. Ki-tae doesn’t know why, but he hears that it happened right after he’d spoken with Ki-hoon on the phone.

And here’s where I borrow a girlfriday-ism to ask: Seriously, Show? Way to add to Ki-hoon’s already-crippling Daddy-killer issues. Are we in some horror movie now where a call from Ki-hoon has the power to send men to their deaths? Maybe that’s why he didn’t call Eun-jo earlier.

Ki-jung arrives at the hospital to join his brothers at his father’s bedside. But like the unemotional businessman we know him to be, he treats this whole scenario with coldness, and Ki-tae takes issue with his brother’s attitude, blaming Ki-jung for the collapse. Big Bro has been scheming with Mom to take over Hong Ju, right?

And then Mom arrives to scold them for yelling. Ki-tae is the most emotional of the brothers; he mutters that they all suck and stalks out. Ki-hoon listens numbly as Mom and Ki-jung have a conversation about how this incident delays their business plans. Hearts of ice, these two.

A different thug arrives at the house asking to see the mistress of the house. The gangster-looking fellow has been sent by her “brother” to the big sis who lives in a grand house, having been told that mere mention of him would be enough to get her to send money along.

Seeing Eun-jo driving up to the house, Kang-sook agrees to send the money to get him to leave, and urges him to go quickly. When she turns back to the house, she sees Hyo-sun’s uncle running away — he heard the whole thing.

Hyo-sun asks Eun-jo whether she knows a man by the name of Jang Taek-geun in Mom’s side of the family. And while it’s true he’s not actually Kang-sook’s brother, Eun-jo immediately knows what’s going on and confronts her mother. Leveling that glare at Kang-sook, Eun-jo asks how she’s going to handle this situation. Kang-sook promises to take care of it, but Eun-jo asks what she’ll do if Hyo-sun finds out.

To keep Hyo-sun away from Mom for the moment, she gives her a task. They need to find out what happened in the Japan export scam (and she’s already asked reporter Dong-soo for help on this front), but she has been unable to get in touch with Ki-hoon (whom she refers to as “that person,” as she still isn’t comfortable using his name). She asks Hyo-sun to get a hold of him asap.

Next, Eun-jo requests Jung-woo’s help — as he already knows about Jang ajusshi, she can therefore confide in him.

First, she asks Jung-woo to deliver the money to him, saying that if they don’t pay him off, he’ll keep sending people until they do. Jung-woo assures her that he’ll take care of it, but then Eun-jo changes her mind — she’ll go with him. There’s something she wants to tell him herself, so they can go together.

Jung-woo carefully asks Eun-jo whether “anything” has happened, looking closely for a reaction to see if Ki-hoon confessed the truth to her. He’s relieved to see that he hasn’t.

And again, this is a conversation that the sneaky uncle overhears. I don’t know why people are always having furtive conversations out in the open in this household, expecting complete privacy for their top-secret discussions. Cars, people! Go talk in your cars.

Kang-sook doesn’t want to hand over the money, but Eun-jo orders her to comply — they don’t want the elders to find out, do they? With frustration, Kang-sook retrieves her account books from her cabinet — but something catches her eye, and she pulls out a small stack of books from the back. They are Dae-sung’s diaries.

Opening the first one, from eight years ago, she reads an early entry where Dae-sung recounts meeting Kang-sook:

Dae-sung’s diary: “A person came to me. She’s like the spring wind. She carries the scent of flowers in the spring wind. It trailed from her like it trails from a flower wind. I vowed to massage her swollen feet forever. I’ve made so many vows. A foolish man does that. This foolish man has once again made vows. That I wouldn’t cause tears to fall from her eyes…”

Ki-hoon trudges back home at the end of a long day, where Hyo-sun is still waiting for him, per Eun-jo’s orders. Seeing how weary and shell-shocked he looks, she asks in concern how he’s doing, and whether something happened to him. Slowly, she puts her arms around him in a comforting embrace.

And then, surprisingly, Ki-hoon’s arms raise from his sides and hug her back in a brief gentle gesture, before he pulls away. Silently, he turns away and walks off.

And… seriously? Dude, you have GOT to stop doing that! This is one of those moments where you can’t really hate Ki-hoon, since he (sigh) is weighed down by the guilt over possibly killing (or at least maiming) another father figure. The comfort of a friend’s hug is probably a really welcome thing right now. But hello, this is Hyo-sun, and the girl has just started to let go of her hopes after realizing that you and Eun-jo have something she can’t get between — and now you confuse her all over again! Like I said, these characters suck at timing. Le sigh.

And sure enough, long after Ki-hoon has gone, Hyo-sun still stands there in the yard, stunned and immobile, feeling the importance of that return hug.

When Ki-hoon enters his room, Jung-woo glares disapprovingly and checks to make sure Ki-hoon didn’t tell Eun-jo anything. Ki-hoon wonders if that’s the only thing he cares about. After finding out that Ki-hoon is part of Hong Ju, and why he came to this house, and what he did to Dae-sung, “Eun-jo’s the only important thing?” He asks why Jung-woo didn’t say anything.

Jung-woo answers that he believes Ki-hoon when he said he meant to return the company to Dae-sung: “If I don’t believe that, it makes you too pitiful.” It’s the least bit of credit he’s willing to give Ki-hoon, although he still mutters that he doesn’t know why Eun-jo likes him so much.

With the necessary equipment on its way to them, they can begin with the wine-making process again and Eun-jo can proceed with her experiments. Ki-hoon and Hyo-sun visit their old rice dealer to make an earnest request — just this once, can he honor the terms he had used while Dae-sung was alive?

The man keeps his eyes turned away from Hyo-sun, as though aware that looking at her would weaken his resolve to stand firm. Hyo-sun simply says that she knows he dropped by their father’s funeral. The man tries to keep his face stern, but has difficulty when she admits that if he’d greeted her, she would have probably passed out from crying so hard “because you would have reminded me of my father.” Her sincere thanks breaks through his tough exterior, and he has to wipe his eyes with his handkerchief.

Hyo-sun has been eyeing Ki-hoon with a mix of adoration and hope, and Ki-hoon understands why. So he tells her, “You’re a really good person, Hyo-sun,” praising her ability to touch people’s hearts with her sincerity, which is a talent that others don’t have. He envies that about her, and says, “You’re a good person. Believe that.” His kind words are pleasing, but they make her nervous that there’s a catch. And there is.

Hyo-sun asks why her earnest words don’t have an effect on him, but he answers that they did: “You liking me, believing in me, your earnest feelings — I know.” She’s a little abashed to have her feelings for him discussed so openly, and asks, “You know?”

He answers, “I know, which is why I’m telling you this. Which is why I’m turning you down like this.” Ki-hoon adds his promise to take care of the sisters no matter what happens in the future, even if he never “receives forgiveness.” The words are cryptic and Hyo-sun doesn’t understand, so Ki-hoon makes his stance clear: “Thank you for your feelings. I’m sorry I can’t receive them.”

She asks if this is because of Eun-jo, and whether he’s going to reject Eun-jo too. He says no — Eun-jo is the one who rejected him.

Hurt, Hyo-sun backs away slowly and says amidst tears, “So none of the things I hold onto are safe. Not Eun-jo, not Mom, and not you.” Gently, Ki-hoon tells her that she can stand by herself. She’s doing well on her own now: “You’re growing up nicely.”

Eun-jo and Jung-woo take the money to deliver to Jang ajusshi, who comes out to see Jung-woo (not seeing Eun-jo) looking much worse than we had last seen him. Jung-woo looks at him in pity and takes him out for lunch.

When they emerge from the restaurant, Jang ajusshi starts at seeing Eun-jo there, waiting for them. She tells Jung-woo to stay where he is, then orders Jang into the car. Both men comply, a bit hesitantly, and Eun-jo tells Jung-woo that if she’s not back in two hours, go home without her.

That alarms Jung-woo, who realizes she’s planning something big that he won’t be able to prevent if he’s not with her, and he tries to run after them. But she speeds off in her car, scaring Jang ajusshi with her reckless driving.

Finally, she screeches to a halt and tells him to get out, screaming the order when he doesn’t react the first time.

And then — shocker of shockers — Eun-jo kneels before him, asking, “Save me, ajusshi.” She addresses him with halting, low words that are alternately pleading and brimming with quiet anger.

Eun-jo: “Save me. I feel like I’m dying. Every day, I feel like I’m going to die. I’m just barely hanging on. I live because I can’t die. I… I… am my mother’s daughter. Song Kang-sook’s daughter Eun-jo. Tough bitch Eun-jo. When you slept drunk, there was a time I wanted to kill you — you don’t know that, do you? I even held a knife. Every time you got drunk and raised a hand to my mother, I sharpened the knife to cut off this hand. That young teenage girl fantasized all sorts of things about cutting off that hand. Do you know that?”

Needless to say, her words freak him out, and he starts to apologize. But her voice turns hard and she tells him to shut up. If he’s really sorry, he ought to quit acting that way — but he always says sorry and does the same thing all over again.

With ominous intent, Eun-jo tells him, “Look at me. I’ll show you that your mistake can kill a person easily.”

With that, Eun-jo turns and walks down the hill, trudging down to the shore, not stopping when she hits the water and continuing on until she’s knee-deep, waist-deep, chest-deep in the lake. All the while, her face wears a look of resolve.

Shocked, Jang ajusshi hurries down the hillside and splashes in after Eun-jo, pulling her back and grabbing her around the waist. She screams her protests, but he carries her out of the lake and back to the car, where he puts her down in the grass, where she shrieks and sobs.

Kang-sook finds one journal for every year that she knew her husband, except for the most recent volume. Knowing that it must be somewhere, she ransacks her room looking for it, and when she finds nothing, the search takes her to his office.

She pulls books from their shelves and roots through desk drawers until finally, she comes upon the most recent diary, Year 2010. In it, Dae-sung writes how he had known his wife was meeting the other man, but being “that foolish man,” he had been too scared to ask why. Every time he opened his mouth to say something, he knew that his life with her over the past eight years would disappear and didn’t say the words: “That my life would continue without her — I’m most afraid of that.”

Kang-sook carries the volume back to the house, walking in a daze — Eun-jo had told her that Dae-sung knew the truth, but perhaps she hadn’t let herself believe it, or perhaps it never quite sank in just how generous, how loving he had been. But now there’s no denying it, and as she sits in front of her wedding photograph, she starts to sob.

COMMENTS

I wondered whether Eun-jo’s lakeside freakout was part of her plan, because she had told Jung-woo the night before that there was something she wanted to say to the man. She’s her mother’s daughter, and Kang-sook has threatened suicide before, and been so good at it that it left Eun-jo wondering if she really meant it. Is this Eun-jo’s way of showing him just how hurtful he has been — scaring him straight, as it were — in hopes that he’ll back off for good rather than have her blood on his hands?

On the other hand, it’s possible that she really did snap, and the walk into the lake was a spontaneous reaction to try to drown out her pain, literally. However, I have to say that if this is the case, the lingering suspicion that this was all a part of the Master Plan actually prevented this scene from having any emotional impact on me, which I thought was a shame. Generally when Eun-jo has a meltdown, it’s riveting and heartbreaking. In this case, it felt too calculated to move me.

On the other hand, Kang-sook’s breakdown? Fan-freakin’-tastic. I loved seeing her finally face the horrible thing she had done — and the way Lee Mi-sook plays her, you can just about pinpoint that moment when the realization breaks, like a bubble of emotion that pops over her head and bombards her in a wave of repressed feeling. She couldn’t have gotten to this point by being dragged, or shoved, by Eun-jo. She had to come to it on her own, and that makes the moment that much more devastating.

As for Jung-woo, I find him an easy character to like — perhaps too easy — and I suspect it’s because he gets to vent all his anger at Ki-hoon and support Eun-jo no matter what. It’s probably how a lot of us feel, but for the desire to cut Ki-hoon some slack for an eventual redemption arc. Or at least that’s how I feel. But Jung-woo gets to be confrontational and antagonistic, and say all the harsh things I’m yelling at the guy, only at least his words actually get heard by Ki-hoon.

If only Ki-hoon weren’t so bogged down by all that oppressive guilt! I couldn’t believe they actually made Dad No. 2 collapse as the result of a Ki-hoon phone call. Aside from being an overused cliche (a kdrama dad/grandpa must always have unidentified heart trouble that pops up at the most inopportune times to drive people apart!), I just can’t care about him, particularly not after Dae-sung. Dae-sung was a character I was sincerely sorry to see go, but President Hong’s (potential) death is purely a plot manipulator. It doesn’t resonate with any of the characters except for Ki-hoon, and the repetition of the scenario saps it of dramatic effect. Sucks to be you when “I killed my father, oh no!” becomes a category of guilt, not an isolated incident.

THANK YOU!!! i was waiting for this, coz i needed insight on the dumping and the is-she-really-gonna-go-freakin-drown-herself scenes. (LOL, mean, whatevs) 😀 and now.. i’m more confused than ever. LOL.. it felt realt when she was in the water already, but you’re right– i think at the start there, it felt a little manipulated. …didn’t stop me from yelling, “WUT. WUT!!! WUTDAFLUX!!!!” anyway when she was wading in already O_o ..moon geun young, you discombobulate me in the best ways possible. AND KANG SOOK!!! thanks for that brilliant bit of acting, for being able to let the subtle complexities of human-NESS peak through in moments like this.. GAH, honestly. just.. WOW.

thank you, javabeans!! it’s nearing the end!!! best season of kdramas we’ve had in a while, yeah?

funny, i thought that the hug KH gave to HS before he left her standing there had the opposite effect to what you thought – that rather than importance, it was more to a certain kind of disappointment. but ah well. who knows?

also, i love that scene where KH flatout rejected HS – i liked the way the dialogue went at least. it was.. realistic in a way.

i feel as if you’re not quite diggin’ this show, JB, honestly, but on the other hand, as you’d countless times stated about recapping – one wouldn’t recap if one didn’t have a strong commitment/attachment/somethinggg to say/express about the show – so maybe it’s just your frustration to the show that’s coming off more in this recap (or at least that’s what i feel, reading this particular recap).

anyhoo, all that said though, thank you still! hopefully 15 will be a good one! (but nope, i’m SO not get my hopes up. at all. this show has a knack of killing all my optimism and tearing to shreds)

yeah, i felt like after the last two episodes this one took a slight dip. i knew they wouldnt cut us the slack and let kihoon tell his side of the story which REALLY frustrated me. in fact, at that point, i wanted to throw jungwoo over a roof for stopping the beans before they spill.
and oh the kang-sook breakdown was absolutely amazing!! that has got to be one of the best moments for this episode. the emotions were portrayed really well!

nice recap. I have been waiting for a Cinderella’s sister recap for a while, well worth the wait ;D

I actually disagree with you on the attempted-lake-suicide. I bawled when the ajusshi pulled Eun-jo out and she broke down. Her monologue prior to the attempted suicide just hit a chord with me. I finally saw how emotionally abused/scarred she was. It was obviously stated beforehand, but this is the first time I truly FELT that heartbreaking and suffocating feeling.

I tried to put myself in her shoes. How I would have felt witnessing my mother being physically abused by a alcoholic man. I think I would have felt like Eun-jo, having such intense hatred for someone that you contemplate killing them.

Moon Geun-young, goddamit she is good. I have to bow down to her acting.

I was really wondering why I was beginning to tire of the plot actually, when I had much to root for the drama, be it the complex character developments, the acting, the angst…but oh, you spelt it out today for me. It’s the timing. Silly me, not being able to see this point. “…Worst Timing Ever in the history of Ever”. Haha! This episode seriously had way too much unfortunate timings.

Thanks for your translations. They were somewhat different than the ones I read, and I find them more comprehensive.

Do keep up the good work! Always looking forward to your recaps, and Girlfriday’s as well 😉

Kang Sook’s breakdown is my favorite scene in this episode, and I think everyone could see why.

I’m dying to see the last few episodes . . . surely this drama would pick on a fast pace by then. But I’m also hoping it doesn’t take too long before the plot develops quickly. Been too draggy imo. If Moon Geun Young and the others aren’t great actors, I’d drop this drama XD

Thanks for the awesome recap! Was wondering, could you comment on Taecyeon’s acting skills as Jungwoo? I remember you expressed wariness regarding him taking a role in this drama, but now that half the series has been aired, do you think he lives up to the standards set by the other more experienced actors? Also, now that some characters (Eunjo, Kangsook) have completely changed from their traditional Cinderella roles, how do you think the story will play out? It seems to me that right now, things are too good to be true regarding the forming relations between the sisters as well as the sympathy Kangsook begins to feel for Hyosun in the next chapter. I don’t think Hyosun really fell into the shoes of Cinderella, since the suffering she went through was short and (in my opinion) hardly like the traditional ways the stepmother supposedly treats Cinderella in the folktales (do correct me if I’m wrong).

And I do agree with how Eunjo’s emotional breakdown wasn’t very impacting on me, I kept wondering whether this was part of a scheme or her genuine emotions…

I think I disagree with you on Eun-jo’s breakdown JB. Oh my god…this might be the first time ever “in the history of Ever.” lol

I actually thought it was really touching and heartwrenching and not calculated at all. I know you brought up both possibilities, but I just can’t believe that she would “calculate” a scene like that. I don’t think it’s in her character? I know she said she wanted to speak to him but that doesn’t necessarily entail something like this right? It just feels too raw of a scene and I felt she really did break down. I know I had my tissues ready and of course came Kang-sook’s scene. OMG. I need to refill my Kleenex.

I too, thought the near-drowning scene was part of EJ’s plan. It reminded me of a conversation between EJ and her mother in an earlier episode when they were discussing a fake suicide attempt by KS that she had used to manipulate EJ. KS had said something along the lines of, it might have been fake, but you had to be willing to really go there in order for it to be effective.
That, and EJ’s statement that she is her mother’s daughter were what made me think she wasn’t freaking out, so much as she was trying to freak him out, in order to get through to him that he really needed to Stay Away. Even her shrieks at the end I interpreted to be prompted by frustration, and/or self-loathing at the level of manipulation she had brought herself down to rather than dismay at being oulled from the water.
This incident, and the one in the previous episode, where EJ uses KS greed to “outfox the fox”, really made me wonder where the writers are taking this character. Because here are two examples of how EJ’s actions mirror those of her mother, although one is acting solely out of self-interest and the other a desire to protect someone else.
jb – yeah, how irritating was that when KH father collapses after the phone call?Seriously! My first reaction was, “They’re really doing this again?!” And how much did I completely not care if the man was dead or alive?

Thanks for the recap! Towards the end of dramas, I always wonder if the writers will have enough time to wrap things up, and those worries are especially greater with Cinderella’s Sister. I feel that no end will completely satisfy me and show us the transformations we’re all longing for but won’t have. I love seeing the characters grow though, which we’ve been seeing a LOT more in recent episodes, and seeing the culmination of that in a few episodes should be satisfactory. But, the angst! Too much – I’m sticking with your recaps until school’s out…can’t be depressed for finals. 😉

Oh, ah, is it already another week? Mmmmm…. The parts I hated in this episode? Every time (was it only once) when Ki-hoon told Jung-woo to “shut his trap” because, well, those are harsh words our “prince” is speaking. And maybe because of the innocent “I’ll protect my Noona” characteristic Jung-woo has, that I reacted like the older sis I am wanting to protect one of my younger siblings from getting their heads bit off… *SIGH*

Lee Mi-Sook rocks every role I’ve ever had to privilege to see and this is one of my favs so far. I love to be miffed by her and irritated by her “crazy evil.” In the last ep KiHoon says to Hyosun that the reason her chest feels tight is due to the fact she isn’t letting herself feel and react the way she needs to to move on. I loved this because I’ve been waiting for that tear bubble hovering over Kangsook’s heart ot burst and it finally has. I’m not sure if we can hope for any sanity from her, but its great to see her as a human with relatable emotions.
She’s a character that is embodies everything ugly about humanity, so its a relief to see her portray something that helps me see something beautiful in her.

“On the other hand, Kang-sook’s breakdown? Fan-freakin’-tastic. I loved seeing her finally face the horrible thing she had done — and the way Lee Mi-sook plays her, you can just about pinpoint that moment when the realization breaks, like a bubble of emotion that pops over her head and bombards her in a wave of repressed feeling. She couldn’t have gotten to this point by being dragged, or shoved, by Eun-jo. She had to come to it on her won, and that makes the moment that much more devastating.”

I TOTALLY AGREE!!! The actress who plays Kang Sook is amazing.. i love to hate her and i still hate her but i’ve always wondered is she will ever realize her mistakes… and seeing how she acted the ending scene, AH-MAZING!!!! Standing O to her!!

I’m loving how unpredictable this drama is.. i mean, yeah, you could say some things are predictable.. we could most likely guess possible endings, but are we really sure that it will turn out the way we want it to be?? so many unresolved issues.. especially with the 2 companies..

Lastly, i can’t wait for the day that Eun Jo calls Ki Hoon’s name… or maybe Oppa… That would be a moment to watch out for =)

lol! ditto to above^ the recaps came in one after the other! So Kang Sook does have something resembling a heart. Sort of sad that the only person she feels safe to love is a dead one. The impression I get for her character would be that even if she had read his journal while he was alive, she still wouldn’t have given him her heart. She might have been nicer perhaps, but trust/love him? No way in hell.

If the near-drowning scene wasn’t an act… Heck, I don’t understand it even more.
Why does EunJo feel like she’s suffering so much that she needs to end her life… And not only that but why choose to have the ahjussi there as her final and only witness??
I am skipping a lot when I watch b/c it’s slow for no good reason.

Ugh, I hate daddy Hong. He manipulates all his sons, makes them ‘evil’.
I believe that Ki Jung actually loves his younger brothers, but like he said in ep 12, the father who made him like that.
President Hong married the wife because of money, right? So he’s able to do anything for money, including scarifies his children.

I watched Taec’s subbed cuts – provided by 2PM fansub – and notice that he only has around 10-15 mins of appearance. It’s a shame, because I believe his character can be developed more, and I also like how he dealt with Ki Hoon’s revelation.

Thanks for great recaps JB! It’s always interesting and enlightening to read your and others’ comments. Here are my two cents.

Regarding the KH/HS hug scene, I too had a different interpretation. I felt that it already showed a rejection from KH. He’s been hugging her and comforting her a lot, but this time, when it could have been another heartfelt hug between the two, he didn’t hug her back and linger but actually took her hands off him, pretty much sending the message that he doesn’t want her comfort. I think that is why she is stunned or confused and then uneasy about this change of behavior towards her, his silent rejection of her. It’s not a hopeful feeling I got from her, but more fear or realization of something changing. The next day, she gets the official spoken rejection from KH.

Regarding EJ and Mr Jang, I don’t think it was planned on her part, I don’t think EJ really plans or calculates her emotional outbursts, they just happen as she can’t control them and ends up being harsh, on herself or the receiving party. I was really moved by what she said, about not wanting to live again the nightmare of wanting to kill, of being so close to kill and really commit a sin that will truly show that she is her mother’s daughter, that she can be or is indeed as bad as her mother. She probably wanted to kill him again after what just happened because of him, thus her insane driving, and knowing it could or will probably happen again, she’d rather die than go through those feelings and thoughts again. I think her actions were as much to make him realize what his presence in her life can drive her to, as what she herself has been feeling all this time, that she’d rather die than go through another “nightmare”.

Argh, it really seems that death to her is the only salvation or way out of her painful life. To think that Hell would be better than what she goes through because of her mom or her ever present haunting past, she must really be hurting and in pain. But then again, don’t they also say that we are here on earth to pay for our sins or repent, so I guess having to live is a kind of hell anyway. Oh, so frustrating, just like life.

“And here’s where I borrow a girlfriday-ism to ask: Seriously, Show? Way to add to Ki-hoon’s already-crippling Daddy-killer issues. Are we in some horror movie now where a call from Ki-hoon has the power to send men to their deaths? Maybe that’s why he didn’t call Eun-jo earlier. ”

haha, i laughed at that
thank you so much!!
yeah, i really think it was jung woo’s retaliation to be like ‘ha, sore back in the morning for stealing the girl i am in love with’
i thought at the beginning, as they were both drunk, that this is another example of what you (and/or girlfriday) noted in the earlier recaps, about ej and kh always being in tune with each other, which i enjoyed
anyway, i still love cinderella’s sister so much, despite its faults, i find every moment i watch it charming
and yeah, lee mi sook is amazing

can’t make up my miind about the recent episodes. on the one hand there are so many frustrating cliches in order to further the angst and drama- especially the cliche of bad-timing and the double cliche of bad-timing and old-man-collapses-due-to-bad-news. But on the other hand we have brilliant scenes like the ones with Eunjo and Kangsook at the end which you don’t get to see anywhere else.

For some reason, I don’t think Eunjo’s decision to drown herself was too calculated when you also take in that complex she has about sinning and carrying the sins of her mother. I bet she would also feel guilty even if her mother was only jaywalking or was spitting gum onto the pavement. If Jang ajusshi had decided to continue bothering Kangsook, wrecking the frail stability of the family that Eunjo wants to preserve in order to honor Daesung…the guilt of it all would have pushed her into killing herself anyways. oh great, now I sound as dramatic as Jungwoo

anyways, love the part with Ki-tae. So he fell in love with hyosun from the commercial??! creepy but sort of cute. but will be sort of awkward to find out she’s been in love with kihoon for years and years.

I wish this show was 16 episodes. Sometimes it seems the characters are going around in circles saying the same thing and having the same reaction we’ve seen before a number of times such as KH’s mixed signals to HS. And Eun-Jo’s breakdown? Eh, haven’t we already seen a number of variations on that. Next time she talks about killing someone, or herself, well, she needs to follow through.

I’m a Eun-Jo fan all the way, but still, that’s getting rather annoying. To keep my interest, either they up the angst or dial it back.

Thanks for the recap, Javabeans. I have to agree that there was a lot of cliches in this episode and the only thing that I really liked about this episode was of course the end, with KS finally realizing how much she’s really lost in Dae-Sung’s death.

i didn’t like this episode. it was stalling the story and didn’t even make the effort to at least hold our attention.

in freak-outs comparison – i am still in awe of what hyosun did a couple of epis ago — she ate the ricecake that fell on the floor like it was nobody’s business. it even scared the wicked stepma. hehehe

and she was sooooooooooo believable eating that ricecake 8) go hyosun!

@ #25: I agree with you on the KH-HS hugging scene. I don’t think it was a return hug. He sort of hugged back but the way he patted on her back, pulled her away from him, and closed his eyes and left without even looking at her clearly indicated that there is no place for her in KH. Hyo-sun’s stunned and immobile because she felt rejected… because KH refused her effort to comfort him with his gesture. It was a thanks, but no thanks gesture. That explains why the next day HS keeps studying his face because she’s afraid that he would reject her more obviously and her fear comes true..

“I couldn’t believe they actually made Dad No. 2 collapse as the result of a Ki-hoon phone call.” SERIOUSLY. He’s not the kind of person who would collapse only because of what KH said. Like you said he’s a manipulator, and I would digest the collapse if he faked it, but Mr. Hong collapsing from a shock? No way… it just doesn’t make sense.

Thank you for your recaps. I’m always looking forward to this because I can’t find recent episodes of CS with English Subs. I’m frustrated with lack of skinship between KH & EJ but based on your recaps I appreciated that the drama is more than just a love story but there are other aspects as well like family relationships, etc. Hope though that the romantic angle will have more to give.

i got frightened with EJ’s meltdown.. i never thought she would snap in that way..
EJ’s confession about her feeling for KH made me happy yet utterly sad for JW.. i really liked when she said that even though it hurts, she would rather be around KH.. did JW’s heart got dashed in a million pieces or what?!?!

I wonder. . . How will this drama end? Sadly, happily, or epicly?
Hmmm. . . I vote for the EPIC!

Eunjo said in one episode that she’d kill anybody who would hurt her family.
Maybe the directors will pull a WHIB!

Imagination:
Eunjo shoots Kihoon. As he lays dying… “Eunjo I .. Love ….”
then !!! He’s a dead man
Overcome with distraught and in an effort to evade the police Eunjo also shoots herself and dies

Kang Sook then turns insane and Hyosun receives all of the inheritance. Because of her kind soul, she sends Kang Sook to a nice, little hospital.
Jung Woo starts fresh by becoming a baseball player and player player.

@25 waiting for more. I agree with you on both scene. @32 nabi too about the hug.

KH/HS hug.
KH is detached emotionally from HS during the hug. You can see it from his hanging hands. He didn’t even realized that HS’s hugging him. Then when he realized that she’s hugging him, he just gave her a light tap at the back to let him go. This emotional detachment makes HS scared.

EJ suicide attempt
I don’t think before she starts talking with Jang Ajussi she has plotted to stage the suicide attempt. Ending her life has always been at the back of her mind. So when she starts talking about the hurts and rage inside her, her thoughts of murdering someone else, it drove her to the edge. The cry after Jang Ajussi saved her is heartfelt. She herself was in shock after that.

Lee Mi Sook… How awesome is she? I cried when she cried. And she’s supposed to be a character I hate. To realize that all the dreams that she has ever dared to dream is right in front of her all this time and she has never appreciate it . She doesn’t even realized it’s existence until that person is no longer around. How sad is that?

I don’t like JW stopping KH from telling EJ about the secret. No matter how bad the news is, everybody concerned should know about it. One thing about secrets…it’s never a secret forever. Might as well know about it sooner rather than later.

Ahhhh the age old drama plotline where someone has to tell someone something important but is always thwarted by bad timing and the fact that NO ONE USES THEIR CELLPHONE. i mean seriously, you use your phone for eeeeeeverything else but no, not when it’s most crucial. geez. If KH had just called EJ fr the start and not asked HS he wouldn’t hv bumped into his brother, probably wouldn’t hv called his father, his father wouldn’t have fainted.. and the list goes on. But we wouldn’t have much of a drama if that had happened I suppose so oh well!

Does anyone else find it funny that when there’s so much ruckus going on in Kang-sook’s room (what with her snapping at HS and fighting with EJ), Jun-su remains blissfully asleep? Hahah the kid sure sleeps like a log!

Eunjo lake freak-out is like… WTF? I mean its to help her mom by scaring Jang ahjusshi… but still a freakout nonetheless especially moment ago she just got down on her knee and beg is major scary… I dunno if her character is written as such to give her all this freak-out moments liable…

Dae Sung diary must be one of the saddest diary in the world… Lee Mi Sook pwn as Kang Sook…

I think it is better for HS to live on her own as there is no special bond between HS and KH and let her step sister EJ and her step mom leave the house for good with KH and also JW noona’s confidante and KH and EJ should get married and start their new life elsewhere without thinking of their sins that they have all committed and try to overcome their “debts” to dae sung in their own way without hurting HS further, most of the time giving HS wrong signals to interprete.

After the nice ep 12, I am a bit disappointed by ep 13. There was no one interaction scene between KH and EJ. I was speechless. Are they the main leads? Yes, but a main lead couple with no interaction….

And there are so many coincidents in preventing KH to tell EJ about the truth. How can this happen?

Last but not least, how can Mr scriptwriter make KH’s dad fainted? It is too much!!!!

Mr scriptwriter, you are so scheming and calculated that it makes the story plot awkward, unsmooth and UNBELIEVEABLE.

After the first 4 episodes, the story is all angst from ep 5 to ep13. A good scriptwriter should know when to give some sweenter to the viewers but he chose to test our patience.

I agree with JB that KH and EJ should have run away when EJ wants to. They can at least run away for one day (and return with sadness later) and have some happiness to show to the viewers. Then the whole story should be more balanced instead of all angst……!!!!!!

I think viewers like JW and DS because they are the only characters that can make viewers smile and feeling better. Mr Scriptwriter – please return KH and EJ a normal life in the coming episodes. If you are going to end the story like “What happened in Bali”, then I swear I will never watch the drama written by this scriptwriter Mr Kim again.

I really like the cast of this drama. I like the directing as well. But the story plot moves too slowly. It is like the old day’s Korean drama that you can skip a few episodes because there is no story development at all. I also skipped a few episodes in “What happened in Bali” because the story is so slow moving. And to be honest, I don’t understand why it is so popular back then.

It maybe better if CS is designed to be a 16-episode drama instead of a 20-episode one, then I think the story plot can move forward faster.

MGY’s and CJM’s crying abilities are well tested and proven. So please return a handsome CJM and a pretty MGY to viewers. I missed their lovely smiles!

This drama started out soo good and now its just frustrating and the storyline is getting very draggy already!! After watching prosecutor princess and seeing how straightforward the main girl is and then watching this it makes it quite annoying!!
Gosh why dont you tell him already how you feel!!! Ugh!!!!

Am I the only one who feel frustrated over KH?
The scriptwriter writes him off to be such a loser!
About telling EJ the truth, I’m kinda agreed wtih JW that KH just want to release his gulity and left the burden over his shoulder, at least to my opinion.
Some might say secret won’t be hide forever, you will know it eventually.
But in reality, something which are really bad, serious and can having a severe effect to others’ life, it shouldn’t be spoken out forever if you really love someone.

And what’s with his skinship with HS? He knows in all his heart that HS is crazy over him but he still gives her some hope…gosh!!!!

I’m frustrated a lot! I don’t even sure when I see KH and EJ together, I will be happy as I should feel for the main leads. = =”

@36 piggy IMAO, lol this end would really be epic! i kind prefer this end then a sad end because of some disease or something like this! Eun jo Killing Ki hoon? maybe not, but eun jo killing ki jung? it is possible.. you know, she is almost going crazy, and doesn’t find her life so worth.. so i think maybe she can really kill someone in the end.. even KS isn’t safe. lol because she can decide to kill her mother to do not suffer anymore, like, ”mom, we can’t be like that, let’s go to hell together” imao i see that coming. lol i think that she wouldn’t kill with a gun or something like this.. maybe a car accident? and then Ki hoon kill himself because of love and guilty, it is normal korean dramas having such tragic end…omg i’m thinking tooo much.. but if you think in cinderella story at the end the stepsister and stepmother get a terrible end. and yes i know that this drama isn’t about cinderella but who know?

This drama starts to tire me out so much, the plot is going around in circles. It’s not about the music or the directing but the plot itself, nothing new is being introduced, no old problems being resolved, basically the same stuffs all over again. Bringing more angst to a drama isn’t making it heart-wrenching. It just seems so forced! CS really, has let me down!

and @46 dixa .. i don’t think that Kh was thinking that way, for me he was really afraid to lose eun jo or to others tell the truth to eun jo, he really is scared of losing her.. i don’t think it was because he wanted to be forgive, it is because of love. if he really was just looking for forgiveness then he would act like that to HS because think about it, for her he (DS) was the real dad from HS and the last Parent alive. .. if it was just because of guilty and forgiveness he wouldn’t be like this, he wouldn’t find it so hard to tell, because when someone wants to release his guilty is so easy to talk the true and ask for forgiveness.. so i think he was going to eun jo to tell her the truth because her oppinion and her forgiveness is important. he really loves her so that makes it even more hard for him. well but after he had that talk with JW maybe he realized that he could be trying to release his guilty too, and i think that is why he was so shoked, because he din’t have think like this and that what JW said could be true..but i think it wasn’t for release his guilty because if it was he wouldn’t try to look for her again because JW just had spill everything in his face.. if it was truth he wouldn’t want to talk to her again because of shame and becase like JW said that would be his punishment.. so if he still wants to tell her i think isn’t because of he want to release his guilty, but because he loves her and dont want to lose her at all.. and sorry my comment seems a little confuse lol.

@48 Constance what you said is so NOT true.. it is true that the issue about ds company is still not fixed and that isn’t working but this for me can be the main plot. well i just think that the ds company is the link that get together the characters.. so of course this issue cannot be fixed right way right? if you think about personal taste that everyone likes soo much the main issue is about the project of the main actor, isn’t it?? and in personal taste the main issue just seems always being ruined by others (i’m talking about the project that Ji hoo is always working is always being ruined and etc), so if the main issues are fixed what will remain for the last episodes? what do you want to happen? this drama CS isn’t like the others.. and i don’t think is being dragg. and is going in circles but it is good, because while it is, we became to know each chacarter and what they really think. it isn’t like the others dramas that everyone is surpeficial and you really doesn’t understand the character because the plot is too fast… and well this is a melodrama.. so i think that you just isn’t suited to watch this type of drama.. go watch a comedy where everything happens fast and normaly isn’t that well explained and the characters are all superficial. it seems you don’t like to discover the character you just want the main issue to be fixed and that is it! whoa, if it was that simple it would be really boring.. you cleary don’t enjoy the drama.. it is like you want that they get together already and kiss, and all the problems are fixed like magic or just with some words and Ta dã! happy end for everyone. argh so boring. -__-